Remote Diagnostics Research Articles

Using contactless methods of diagnostics of high electric fields

In the electric power industry of Russia and abroad, special attention is paid to the problem of an increase in the number of accidents caused by damage to high-voltage insulators in high-voltage equipment. An analysis of emergencies at substations and open switchgears [1- 2, 4] was carried out, which showed that in most cases the causes of damage to high-voltage insulators are natural aging in an applied electric field, overvoltage, and the presence of initial defects in the manufacture of high-voltage insulators. Based on this fact, we developed various methods of non-contact diagnostics of high-voltage insulators in order to identify defects at an early stage of their development. Particular attention was paid to the method of partial discharges because the characteristics of partial discharges provide information on the parameters of defects. The article describes a set of non-contact methods for remote diagnostics of high-voltage insulators; a two-channel method for remote diagnostics of the operating state of high-voltage insulators, based on the registration of partial discharges by electromagnetic and acoustic sensors; a device that allows visual inspection and the search for faulty high-voltage equipment; remote non-contact method for recording electric fields of high tension of industrial frequency, as well as their spatial orientation based on the electro-optical effect. We developed a mock-up of a portable diagnostic device for implementing research methods for high-voltage dielectric elements to diagnose their technical condition using the described complex of non-contact methods. The measuring device as part of a portable diagnostic device consists of a set of sensors for collecting diagnostic information detected by electromagnetic, acoustic and electro-optical sensors and a voltage phase signal applied to the studied highvoltage insulator. The simultaneous use of several sensors at once made it possible to increase the accuracy of localization of partial discharges in high-voltage insulators. Visualization of diagnostic results is possible at the control room in the form of amplitude-phase, frequencyphase and amplitude-frequency diagrams of the distribution of characteristics of partial discharges and on a portable device in the form of radiation intensity from the selected sensor. A portable diagnostic device made it possible in laboratory conditions to study electrophysical processes in various dielectric materials and products under the influence of strong alternating electric fields. A study was made of the features of defects on the rod and the terminal-terminal contact, a diagram of the electrophysical processes accompanying the emission of partial discharges was constructed, and the causes of their occurrence were established.

Information system of agricultural robotic KAMAZ cars

The article is devoted to the development of an information system for the complex of agricultural vehicles. It is shown that with the development of intelligent technologies, wireless communications, and the Internet, the task arises of creating a single information space for agricultural vehicles. The structure of sensors and measuring instruments installed on an unmanned KAMAZ car is described. The block diagram of the control system for the set of robotic cars is presented. The general structure of the information system, which includes a navigation system, technical vision, control units, a remote diagnostics subsystem, and a data transmission system, is considered. The technical diagnostics of the units is carried out using embedded and onboard thermal imagers. Thermograms from thermal imagers are analyzed using a convolutional neural network. Deep neural network and machine learning provided high accuracy in the detection and classification of equipment failures. The decision support system generates control signals for the units and transfers information to the highest level of control of the robotic complex.

Proposal of the Tactile Glove Device.

This project aims to develop a tactile glove device and a virtual environment inserted in the context of tactile internet. The tactile glove allows a human operator to interact remotely with objects from a 3D environment through tactile feedback or tactile sensation. In other words, the human operator is able to feel the contour and texture from virtual objects. Applications such as remote diagnostics, games, remote analysis of materials, and others in which objects could be virtualized can be significantly improved using this kind of device. These gloves have been an essential device in all research on the internet next generation called “Tactile Internet”, in which this project is inserted. Unlike the works presented in the literature, the novelty of this work is related to architecture, and tactile devices developed. They are within the 10 ms round trip latency limits required in a tactile internet environment. Details of hardware and software designs of a tactile glove, as well as the virtual environment, are described. Results and comparative analysis about round trip latency time in the tactile internet environment is developed.

Biometric signal processing at radar remote diagnostics of cardio-respiratory human activity

Radar units which are able to diagnose the state of living organisms, can find the widest application. The estimation method based on respiration and heartbeat parameters of the person has been suggested. The mathematical modeling for algorithm optimization of obtaining the necessary signals and determination of their spectral characteristics has been carried out.

Improving Accuracy of Contactless Respiratory Rate Estimation by Enhancing Thermal Sequences with Deep Neural Networks

Estimation of vital signs using image processing techniques have already been proved to have a potential for supporting remote medical diagnostics and replacing traditional measurements that usually require special hardware and electrodes placed on a body. In this paper, we further extend studies on contactless Respiratory Rate (RR) estimation from extremely low resolution thermal imagery by enhancing acquired sequences using Deep Neural Networks (DNN). To perform extensive benchmark evaluation, we acquired two thermal datasets using FLIR® cameras with a spatial resolution of 80 × 60 and 320 × 240 from 71 volunteers in total. In-depth analysis of the proposed Convolutional-based Super Resolution model showed that for images downscaled with a factor of 2 and then super-resolved using Deep Learning (DL) can lead to better RR estimation accuracy than from original high-resolution sequences. In addition, if an estimator based on a dominating peak in the frequency domain is used, SR can outperform original data for a down-scale factor of 4 and images as small as 20 × 15 pixels. Our study also showed that RR estimation accuracy is better for super-resolved data than for images with color changes magnified using algorithms previously applied in the literature for enhancing vital signs patterns.

Using radar polarimetry to monitor changes in backscattering mechanisms in landslide zones for the case study of the Bureya river bank collapse

The possibilities of radar polarimetry methods for identification of landslide zones are analyzed here. The fact of transformation of the dominant scattering type by the reflecting surface was used as a key feature of the landslide zone. ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 polarimetric data were processed using the Freeman–Durden and Cloude–Pottier decompositions for the four test sites selected in the area of a landslide caused by the Bureya river bank collapse. The decomposition results are consistent with each other in general, however, some areas show significant differences due to the specifics of the basic model provisions. It is shown that before the landslide event on the landslide area there were three main mechanisms of radar signal scattering: surface, volume, and double scattering. After the collapse, this area is characterized by a single scattering from the surface with large-scale irregularities and without vegetation. So, the landslide area can be confidently recognized. The considerable potential of using the radar polarimetry method for remote diagnostics of the effects of landslide phenomena has been demonstrated.

Integrated Noncontact Diagnostics of the Operable Condition of High-Voltage Insulators

We investigated the features of defects on the rod and the “rod–end-terminal” contact of polymer and porcelain insulators using the developed integrated method for noncontact remote diagnostics of the performance of high-voltage insulators, including the initial detection of local areas with elevated electric-field gradients and the measurement of the set of characteristics of partial discharges. The emission of extra-large partial discharges was discovered, and their features were studied. Based on the measurement results, a diagram was constructed for electrophysical processes accompanying the emission of extra-large partial discharges, and their causes were established.

Methods for calibration of radiometric receiver for remote diagnostics of animals diseases

One of the features of the modern stage of agricultural development in Ukraine is the growth of economic basics and improvement of illogical prerequisites to the level of the needs of industrial animal husbandry, the merger of veterinary and zootechnical sciences and increasing their influence directly on production processes. Based on theoretical and experimental studies, a radiometric system was created for remote measurement of electromagnetic radiation of animal organs with the following parameters: sensitivity 10-15 – 10-17 Wt, frequency range 30 – 40 GHz, speed 2 – 4 s, measurement accuracy 0.1 ° C. A calibration method has been developed to provide the necessary parameters of a radiometric receiver for the diagnosis of animals.

In situ and remote laser diagnostics for material characterization from plasma facing components to Cultural Heritage surfaces

Optical and spectroscopic techniques offer unique possibilities for non destructive or micro-destructive characterization of surfaces, with widespread applications, starting from in-line monitoring of industrial processes. A significant group of industrial applications concerns nuclear grade material characterization and plasma diagnostics relevant to the thermonuclear fusion process. However, technologies and methodologies originally developed for specific in-vessel utilization, can easily find additional in-situ and remote application to environmental and cultural heritage (CH) diagnostics addressed to preventive conservation and restoration of surfaces. At ENEA Frascati different prototypes have been developed and patented to collect reflectance and fluorescence images excited at different ultraviolet and visible laser wavelengths, Raman and LIBS signals. Portable integrated instruments suitable for operation at different distances from a 1.5 to 30 m, have been assembled and operated in laboratory on multilayered samples and in field campaigns for Security and on CH painted surfaces. Significant results relevant to the cross fertilization among different applications will be presented and discussed.

The use of telemedicine in perinatal care

Introduction. Modern achievements in the development of modern telemedicine technologies open up new opportunities of using them for the patients’ benefits, health care workers and the health care system. These are solutions that facilitate the contact with medical staff, shorten the waiting time for specialist consultations, and in some cases save lives. Telemedicine is the newest form of medicine and healthcare which combines elements of telecommunications, IT and medicine.The aim of the study. The aim of the study is to show the possibility of using telemedicine in obstetric practice. Thanks to the use of new technologies telemedicine allows to break geographical barriers, allowing for the exchange of specialist information by sending statistical and dynamic images (the highest quality ECG, USG, MRI images). Moreover it allows remote diagnostics. The consultations organized with the help of telecommunications links ensuring the appropriate quality of communication will help speed up the process. Teleconsultations bring with them significant savings resulting from, among others reduction of transport and optimization of the use of medical staff time.Selection of material. The search was performed in Scopus base, using the concepts of telemedicine, obstetric practice in years 2016-2017. Literature found in Google Scholar database was analysed for the number of citations. Literature selected in this way served as the material for the thesis.Conclusions. Modern equipment used in the perinatal care (CTG, UDT, pulse oximeters etc.) reduces the number of unjustified medical interventions, and thus contributes to the improvement of the quality of care. With the development of technology and reduction of the costs of their implementation, it could be assumed that the possibilities and the extent of new technologies will continue to grow.

Simultaneous determining the temperature and partial pressures of four gases in the high-temperature gaseous mixture

In this work we present a simple method for simultaneous determining the temperature and partial pressures of gases in the gaseous mixture using its transmissivity as input data. The method is focused on remote diagnostics in real time when combustion gas temperature and partial pressure can fluctuate rapidly over a wide range (∆T ∼ 1000 K, ∆ρ ∼ 1 atm). To demonstrate the method, the transmissivity of the mixture including the following gases: H2O, CO2, CO, and NO are considered. The conducted simulations are based on the HITEMP2010 database. It has been shown that potential accuracy of the method is equaled to 0.1% and depends only on the agreements between the theoretical and input (experimental) spectra of the gases. The error in determining the temperature depends linearly on the uncertainty in the input transmissivity: uncertainty of 5% leads approximately to 2% error in temperature.

Complex condition monitoring for industrial equipment via remote strain gauge diagnostics and vibration isolating metamaterials

Complex condition monitoring for industrial equipment is offered in this paper. The complex monitoring consists of three parts. The first part contains careful diagnostics of defects. It was greatly improved by using a new method of identification of excitation sources. This method is based on defect location with the help of remote strain gauge control and detects the exact coordinates of the detected defects. The second part covers vibration isolation of industrial equipment. For this purpose, metamaterials with quasi-zero stiffness are offered. They can almost totally isolate dynamic forces passing through them. The third part is dedicated to decrease oscillations of the equipment via dynamic absorbers. Their application can be improved by careful control of adjustment. It is offered to control the phase of oscillations on two ends of the spring.

The DTT device: Advances in conceptual design of vacuum vessel and cryostat structures

In this work we present the latest progresses (September 2018) in the conceptual design of the main containment structures of DTT fusion reactor. The previous DTT baseline design is revised in terms of structural materials and overall reactor shape. The major change involves the vacuum vessel, which now foresees a welded double-wall stainless steel structure. The basic design includes eighteen sectors, with novel ports configuration for remote maintenance systems, diagnostics and heating equipment. New supports are designed for the first wall, which is conveniently segmented in view of assembly and remote replacement. The cryostat of the machine is conceived as a single-wall cylindrical vessel reinforced by ribs. The cryostat base is also in charge of supporting the vacuum vessel and the magnets system. A preliminary FEA analysis confirms that the main mechanical structure might withstand the design loads, in particular the ones resulting from possible plasma disruptions.

IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE PROCESS OF TECHNICAL OPERATION OF VEHICLES BY USING THE DISTANCE DIAGNOSTIC METHOD

The current economic situation in the global fuel market leads to the fact that there is a rise in the cost of operating vehicles. All this makes the owners of such vehicles pay close attention to their optimal operation mode, which primarily depends on competent diagnosis of its components. Saving fuel-operating resources of a modern car directly depends on optimally adjusted parameters of operation of all components and assemblies of a car. The purpose of this work was to increase the efficiency of the process of technical operation of vehicles through the use of the method of remote diagnostics on the example of LLC POGA-1. The practice of using diagnostic tools demonstrates the possibilities of reducing operating costs. This is achieved due to an increase in the resources actually used, a decrease in the number of repairs and the saving of spare parts costs. Over the past years in the Russian Federation has been actively developing the field of freight. The largest share falls on road transport (67.7%). A significant proportion of the country's truck fleet is used as a commercial vehicle, which significantly complicates the procedure for timely diagnosis. Thus, in the event of a malfunction or error in the operation of a motor vehicle, the vehicle can be on a flight and there will not be a specialized service station within range of technical diagnostics of the truck to identify the causes of errors and / or malfunctions. The established problem finds its solution in the application of the method of remote diagnosis of commercial vehicles straight from the TO center, which is equipped with the necessary complex for diagnosing.

Nonlinear parameters of heart rate variability and detection of high risk patients after myocardial infarction based on artificial intelligence analysis

Remote monitoring by implantable devices substantially improves management of heart failure (HF) patients by providing diagnostic day-to-day data. The use of thoracic impedance (TI) as a surrogate measure of fluid accumulation is still strongly debated. The multicenter HomeCARE-II study evaluated clinically apparent HF events in the context of remote device diagnostics, focusing on the controversial role of TI.We followed 497 patients (66.6 ± 10.1 years, 77% male, QRS 139.8 ± 36.0 ms, ejection fraction 26.8 ± 7.0%) implanted with a CRT-D (67%) or an ICD (33%) for 21.4 ± 8.1 months. An independent event committee confirmed 171 HF events of which 82 were used to develop a TI-based algorithm for the prediction of imminent cardiac decompensation. Highly inter-individual variations in patterns of TI trends were observed. The algorithm resulted in a sensitivity of 41.5% (50.0%) with 0.95 (1.34) false alerts per patient year, and a positive predictive value of 7.9% overall and 27.9% in the HF event group of patients. Averaged ratio statistics showed a significant pre-hospital decrease and a highly significant in-hospital increase in TI after intensified diuresis. Recurrent decompensations turned out to be preceded by a significantly stronger decrease of TI compared to first events with a higher chance for detection (63.6% sensitivity, p < 0.05).Overall performance in predicting imminent decompensation by monitoring TI alone is limited due to its high inter-patient variability. TI stand-alone applications should be redirected towards a target population with more advanced symptoms where post-hospital observation aimed to maintain the patient's discharge status might be the most valuable approach.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00711360 (HomeCARE-II) and NCT01221649 (J-HomeCARE-II).

Ectopic Cycle Length Estimation from the Distribution Patterns of Ventricular Bigeminy and Trigeminy with Variable Coupling Interval

Remote monitoring by implantable devices substantially improves management of heart failure (HF) patients by providing diagnostic day-to-day data. The use of thoracic impedance (TI) as a surrogate measure of fluid accumulation is still strongly debated. The multicenter HomeCARE-II study evaluated clinically apparent HF events in the context of remote device diagnostics, focusing on the controversial role of TI.We followed 497 patients (66.6 ± 10.1 years, 77% male, QRS 139.8 ± 36.0 ms, ejection fraction 26.8 ± 7.0%) implanted with a CRT-D (67%) or an ICD (33%) for 21.4 ± 8.1 months. An independent event committee confirmed 171 HF events of which 82 were used to develop a TI-based algorithm for the prediction of imminent cardiac decompensation. Highly inter-individual variations in patterns of TI trends were observed. The algorithm resulted in a sensitivity of 41.5% (50.0%) with 0.95 (1.34) false alerts per patient year, and a positive predictive value of 7.9% overall and 27.9% in the HF event group of patients. Averaged ratio statistics showed a significant pre-hospital decrease and a highly significant in-hospital increase in TI after intensified diuresis. Recurrent decompensations turned out to be preceded by a significantly stronger decrease of TI compared to first events with a higher chance for detection (63.6% sensitivity, p < 0.05).Overall performance in predicting imminent decompensation by monitoring TI alone is limited due to its high inter-patient variability. TI stand-alone applications should be redirected towards a target population with more advanced symptoms where post-hospital observation aimed to maintain the patient's discharge status might be the most valuable approach.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00711360 (HomeCARE-II) and NCT01221649 (J-HomeCARE-II).

Development of logistic services in rail transport

An important factor for the safe operation of the high speed railway lines is proper choice of turnouts and their drives. The article includes information about presently used turnouts on the CMK Central Trunk Line together with their classification in regards of switch machine applied. New challenges were identified which manufacturers of superstructure and certification bodies have to cope. Technologies increasing the quality of turnouts as sold were discussed as well as parameters defining their technical availability and maintainability. The authors presented a proposal of remote diagnostics allowing undertaking the preventive or corrective actions in right time.

TD-OCBA: Optimal computing budget allocation and time dilation for simulation optimization of manufacturing systems

Discrete event simulation has been widely applied to study the behavior of stochastic manufacturing systems. This is due to the fact that manufacturing systems are usually too complex to obtain a closed-form analytical model that can accurately predict their performance. This becomes particularly critical when the optimization of these systems is of concern. In fact, Simulation optimization techniques are employed to identify the manufacturing system configuration which can maximize the expected system performance when this can only be estimated by running a simulator. In this article, we look into simulation-based optimization when a finite number of solutions are available and we have to identify the best. In particular, we propose, for the first time, the integration of Optimal Computing Budget Allocation (OCBA), which is based on independent measures from each simulation experiment, and Time Dilation (TD), which is a single-run simulation optimization algorithm. As a result, the optimization problem is solved when only one experiment of the system is performed by changing the “speed” of the simulation at each configuration in order to control the computational effort. The challenge is how to iteratively select such a speed. We solve this problem by proposing TD-OCBA, which integrates TD and OCBA while relying on standardized time series variance estimators. Numerical experiments have been conducted to study the performance of the algorithm when the response is generated from a time series. This provides the possibility to test the robustness of TD-OCBA. Comparison between TD-OCBA and the original TD method was performed by simulating a job shop system reported in the literature. Finally, an application involving semiconductors remote diagnostics is used to compare the TD-OCBA method and what is known as the equal allocation method.

Observation of short-wave radio signals reflected and scattered by the ionosphere and the earth’s surface, at the test site of the Moscow State University

The problem of remote diagnostics of a “rough” earth surface and dielectric subsurface structures in the shortwave radio wave band is considered. A new incoherent method for estimating the signal-to-noise parameter is proposed. The idea of the method for determining this parameter is that, by having synchronous information about a wave reflected from the ionosphere and about a wave reflected from the earth and the ionosphere (or having passed the ionosphere twice when probing from a satellite), it is possible to extract information about the scattering parameter. The paper presents the results of recording the quadrature components of the signal by means of the ground measuring complex of installation of coherent sounding in the short-wave range of radio waves at the test site of the Moscow State University (Moscow). A comparative analysis is performed and it is shown that according to the analytical (relative) accuracy of the definition of this parameter the new method is an order of magnitude larger than the widely used standard method. Analysis of the analytical errors in the estimation of this parameter allowed us to recommend a new method instead of the standard one. The software for synchronous registration of quadrature components of radio signals of various multiplicities in real time with the formation of a database of experimental data was developed, successfully tested and patented; one of the functions of the software is to protect the computer system from the powerful radiating pulse of the radio transmitter.

Remote diagnostics application software for remote handling equipment

The ITER Remote Handling Control System (RHCS) controllers provide measurement and diagnostics data about the remote handling equipment and tools they control. This paper presents the Remote Diagnostics Application (RDA) software for the analysis and archiving of the RHCS diagnostics data.The RDA provides a basic set of diagnostics tools, including trends, spectra, histograms, scatter plots, cross-correlation plots, as well as archiving and retrieval of history data. The ITER RH operators can extend diagnostics capabilities for specific RH equipment needs by incorporating custom diagnostics functions. To facilitate customization, RDA implements an architecture with three nested levels: the RDA Framework, its Diagnostics Workbenches and their Diagnostics Primitives. The RDA Framework has a user interface that can load one or several special diagnostics cases implemented as custom Diagnostics Workbenches with custom or default Diagnostics Primitives, such as rules, analysis functions and filters.As a result, the RDA features a diagnostics framework to execute complex and dedicated diagnostics and prognostics for the RH experts to monitor performance data, to run diagnostics tests and rules on equipment systems and to analyse historical data. The RDA helps the RH operators reduce downtime of the Remote Handling systems by exposing failure conditions and maintenance needs.